Navy chief mulls R&D resources

Secretary England's remarks to Naval Industry R&D Partnership Conference

The Navy needs to coordinate more with the private sector on science and technology research and development spending so that the limited funds are spent more efficiently, Navy Secretary Gordon England said.

But first, the service must implement reforms, England said Aug. 13 at the Naval-Industry R&D Partnership Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

"The Department of the Navy needs commercialinnovation," he said. The challenge "is to decide where to spend our own scarce resources to augment the far greater resources being spent in the private sector."

England supports the Defense Department's effort to increase spending on science and technology R&D to 3 percent of its budget. But he said military regulations make it hard to work with industry.

The former executive vice president of General Dynamics Corp. described the Pentagon's economic environment as "more attuned to the failed Soviet model — centrally planned and consisting of a myriad of rules and regulations that govern its behavior."

After the presentation, England told reporters that he supports the Navy Marine Corps Intranet despite ongoing disputes over how to test it. NMCI is the Navy's effort to outsource its information technology infrastructure, with Electronic Data Systems Corp. as the prime contractor.

If officials from the Navy, DOD and the Office of Management and Budget don't resolve testing issues by Sept. 30, the Navy will have to pay EDS up to $728 million even if the company is prevented from rolling out seats.

"We're determined to continue," England said.